- Read HB 1706 and get more information here
- Comment on HB 1706 here
- Statement of support (Includes organizations in support)
The required turnaround is tight, though. The bill - HB 1706 - is tentatively scheduled for a hearing Monday, April 1, in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee. This means it needs to be voted out of committee by Tuesday, April 2 - the last day that committee meets before the cutoff deadline.
Here are three things you can do to make that happen:
1. Show up in Olympia on April 1. Committee members need to hear from people who support - especially family members or business owners. Don't want to testify? Your physical presence is still powerful. The hearing is tentatively scheduled for 8:30 am in Senate Hearing Room 1, J.A. Cherberg Building, Olympia, WA. The committee hearing the bill is Senate Labor and Commerce. Agendas can change, so please confirm the Monday agenda here before driving down! Once there, you will need to sign up to testify (there are electronic devices in the hearing rooms and computers in the building entrances for this).
2. Can’t come? You can ask someone who will be there to sign you in. You can be signed in as an individual or representing an organization - so long as that organization supports! You can also ask someone to submit written testimony for you. This means your testimony becomes part of the public record.
3. Email the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee. You don't have to live in their district to let members know this is a priority for you. Ask them to support by voting the bill out of committee.
You can also send your comments on the bill to your state senator. The committee won't see this comment, though. You will need to email committee members separately.
Below are some talking points you can use. Personal stories are powerful, so if you have one, please share it! Multiple perspectives are always helpful - employee, employer, family member or ally. Your note does not need to be long or detailed.
A general guide for letters or testimony:
- Say who you are and what your connection is to the issue (For instance, a person with a disability, an employer, a family member, etc). It is always nice to say where you are from
- Explain why the issue is important to you
- Explain why the issue should be important to the committee
- Let them know what action you want them to take
Reasons to support ending subminimum wage for people with disabilities
This is what workers with disabilities want. This movement has been organized by disabled people across the state and country, including the National Federation of the Blind, Self-Advocates in Leadership, People First of Washington, and many local organizations. We should listen to the people most directly affected and support their vision for their own lives.
This isn’t new. We’ve known for years that using subminimum wages as an incentive for employers doesn’t promote integrated work. Supported employment has been best practice since the 1980s. Vermont phased their workshops out starting in 1996. Employment support agencies across Washington voluntarily transitioned from sheltered workshops to individual supported employment. Seattle ended subminimum wage in 2018. The world didn’t end, and all of these things have resulted in better employment outcomes.
This is the future. Subminimum wage has been banned or phased out in Vermont, New Hampshire, Alaska, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Seattle. There is active legislation in Kentucky, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, North Carolina, Montana, and Illinois. In the other Washington, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers has co-sponsored legislation, mirrored in the Senate, to phase it out across the country.
This isn’t about segregated settings. The bill doesn’t address sheltered workshops, also called prevocational supports. However, as of March 1, 2019, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will no longer fund community employment services offered in segregated settings in Washington. This is true regardless of whether HB 1706 passes. CMS made this decision five years ago, and affects the entire nation. Washington just completed four years transitioning people out of sheltered workshops and into integrated employment supports.
Taxpayers shouldn’t subsidize inequality. Right now, people are being paid subminimum wages in group supported employment programs that agree to contracts (often with government entities) that pay workers less than minimum wages. People getting active treatment in state-run Residential Habilitation Centers are also paid subminimum wages. These programs receive federally matched funds from the state to provide services and supports that should lead to independence and equality. The state should not condone or allocate tax dollars to subsidize programs that expose people to exploitation.
Here are the members of the Labor & Commerce Committee:
Senator Karen Keiser (D-33rd LD) - karen.keiser@leg.wa.gov
Senator Curtis King (R-14 Ranking Republican) - curtis.king@leg.wa.gov
Senator John Braun (R-20) - john.braun@leg.wa.gov
Senator Lisa Wellman (D-41) - lisa.wellman@leg.wa.gov
Senator Steve Conway (D-29) - steve.conway@leg.wa.gov
Senator Rebecca Saldaña (D-37) - rebecca.saldana@leg.wa.gov
Senator Maureen Walsh (R-16) - maureen.walsh@leg.wa.gov
